Cooling towers are known. Illustrative examples of conventional cooling towers are found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,364,141, dated Apr. 29, 2008, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,484,718, dated Feb. 3, 2009, the disclosures of each of which are now incorporated herein by reference. In addition to the foregoing patents, a paper entitled Analysis of Modified Counter-Flow Cooling Towers by M. P. Maiya, found in Heat Recovery Systems &CHP, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 293-303 (1995), describes relevant aspects of evaporative cooling towers and is now incorporated in its entirety herein by reference and was submitted as an exhibit to the priority provisional application. What is needed is a more efficient cooling tower.
The present invention may comprise one or more of the following features and combinations thereof:
A method of cooling a fluid is disclosed comprising the steps of:
drawing a cooling fluid through an inlet and into a pre-cooling chamber;
delivering a pre-cooling fluid generally downwardly and cross-wise to the flow of the cooling fluid;
drawing the cooling fluid through a pre-cooling chamber;
drawing the cooling fluid out from the pre-cooling chamber and generally across into a main cooling tower; and
delivering a fluid to be cooled generally downwardly in a cross-wise fashion to the flow of the cooling fluid through the main tower.
An illustrative apparatus for cooling a fluid is disclosed. The apparatus generally comprises a pre-cooling chamber in side-by-side relation to a main tower. The apparatus further comprises one or more of the following elements and features alone or in combination: The pre-cooling chamber includes an inlet side and an outlet side opposite the inlet side. The main tower includes an inlet side and an outlet side opposite the inlet side. A main sump is disposed generally below and in fluid communication with the main tower. The main sump is also disposed generally below and in fluid communication with the pre-cooling chamber. A spray pump is in fluid communication with the main sump. A series of spray fluid piping is in fluid communication with the spray pump and with the pre-cooling chamber. A fluid reservoir is disposed generally above and in fluid communication with the main tower. The pre-cooling chamber outlet side and the main tower inlet side are disposed in a generally side by side relationship in fluid communication with one another. The fluid outlet and the pre-cooling chamber are in fluid communication with one another. The fluid outlet and the main tower are in fluid communication with one another. The pre-cooling chamber is configured to pre-cool a cooling fluid flowing therethrough from the pre-cooling chamber inlet side generally transversely across to the pre-cooling chamber outlet side through a heat exchange with a pre-cooling fluid spray delivered generally downwardly and perpendicular to the transversely flowing cooling fluid. The pre-cooling chamber and the main tower are positioned to allow the cooling fluid to flow generally transversely between the pre-cooling chamber outlet side and the main tower inlet side; wherein the main tower is configured to allow the cooling fluid to flow therethrough from the main tower inlet side generally transversely across to the main tower outlet side in order to cool a fluid to be cooled delivered from the fluid reservoir generally downwardly and perpendicular to the generally transversely flowing cooling fluid. A fluid outlet is disposed generally above the main tower and the pre-cooling chamber. The fluid outlet is configured to draw the cooling fluid therethrough.
In another illustrative embodiment, the apparatus may further comprise a circulating pump in fluid communication with the main sump. A fluid delivery pipe is in fluid communication with the circulating pump. A fluid return pipe is in fluid communication with the fluid reservoir.
In another illustrative embodiment two pairs of pre-cooling chambers and main towers are disclosed. The second pair of pre-cooling chamber is in fluid communication with spray fluid piping. The spray fluid piping is in fluid communication with the spray pump and/or another spray pump as desired. Each pre-cooling chamber may be in fluid communication with an auxiliary sump.
In another illustrative embodiment an auxiliary heat exchanger system has one end disposed generally above the pre-cooling chamber and an opposing end disposed generally above the main tower in fluid communication with that pre-cooling chamber. The auxiliary heat exchanger system may comprise a heat pipe system. The auxiliary heat exchanger system may comprise a run-around coil system.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description of the illustrative embodiment.